External Raid enclosure recommendation?

[sejanus]

Hi Guys

Can anyone recommend a external box that can take 4-6 hard drives and do a Raid5 style setup? Preferably connected by firewire or esata to a Macpro.

I have a couple of drobos but need more stirage and even the fw800 drobos are a bit slow.

thanks

 

[nanofrog]

Take a look at Enhance Technology's eSATA PM (Port Multiplier) enclosures.
E4 PM
E8 PM

Each eSATA port would be limited to 250MB/s max throughput, and the RAID would be handled by the eSATA card in the Mac. As the E8 has two, it can operate up to 2x the speed. Not the least expensive, but they do work quite well.

If you want faster, you'd need to look into MiniSAS or MultiLane models (each connector handles 4 ports @1 per drive), and an appropriate RAID controller. Particularly usefull if this is for the primary array.

 

[ncc1701d]

Drobo pro with giga ether.